So it’s the end of the Summer term and you’re quickly approaching the Fall 2009 semester.  Have you filled out your FAFSA yet?  Many students are unaware that they have to re-do their FAFSA every year and there are deadlines to meet or you can kiss your financial aid goodbye.

     The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is not a hard form to fill out, it can just be a bit tedious and seem very overwhelming if you’re a first-timer delving into http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.  There are so many ifs, ands, or buts that it can be very confusing.  Such as if you’re 22 but living on your own, do you still have to put down mom and dad’s financial information from their last year’s tax return?  The short answer here, is YES *UNLESS* you’ve had a child and support that child completely on your own.  You can be living alone, single, no child, and have a full-time job and you’ll still have to use mom and dad’s tax return until you turn 23.  The only OTHER exception to this, is if you’re in the active duty military.

     OK So let’s assume you have the FAFSA done and turned in.  The most common mistake students make, and why many FAFSA applications are delayed, is because the student forgets to electronically sign the Signature Page.  Often times, students will check their newly issued campus email address only to find out that Financial Aid is requesting to see them instead of reading their award letter they expected to see.  So whatever you do, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS remember to electronically sign the signature page with your FAFSA PIN. 

     Now that’s done and you wait expectantly for another few days to 2 weeks, however backlogged your Financial Aid office is.  For some, it can be months like Bakersfield College.  Award letters don’t look like they’ll be going out for Fall until late September to early October.  Yikes.  Suddenly you see an email from .  You open it and find you’ve been the victim of something called “Random Verification”.  No need to panic folks!  All this means is that the school wants you to verify your income from the previous tax year.  And you do that, by giving the college or University a copy of your tax return.  If you had less than $11,000 in income or none at all, chances are, they’re going to ask you to bring in a copy of your return. 

     So now the Financial Aid office tells you it’s going to be another few days to weeks.  FINALLY the Pell Grant’s been approved but it’ll be another 3 weeks before disbursement.  Uh oh… You have books to pay for.  What are you going to do?  You don’t have the money to pay for $500 – $1000 worth of books!  Don’t fret, we have that covered too.  Most campuses have what they call book vouchers, or emergency book loans.  Your financial aid office will have information on which they have, or they may have both.  The book vouchers and emergency book loans will be taken out of your Pell Grant money before you even see a dime of it, so don’t worry about that.  The school will get repaid, believe me.

     Now the school isn’t going to disburse the entire amount at once.  What they do is cut it in half for each semester, then cut it in half again.  Once right after classes start and the the rest of your first half a few weeks before the semester ends.  This is to assure your continued presence in your classes instead of dropping them and keeping the money.

     Financial Aid doesn’t have to be difficult, you just have to know the maneuvers and know how to talk to your financial aid officers .  Remember though, there’s only so much they can do.  They have guidelines they have to follow too, just like you have things in your head the way you want them done.  Hopefully they coincide to make your financial aid experience a easy one.  And when in doubt?  never be afraid to walk into the Financial Aid office and just ASK.  You’ll find most FAO’s are more than happy to answer any questions you might have.